Dear Parents, Guardians, Pupils and Friends of the school,
Firstly, Happy New Year to you all. I hope you enjoyed a nice break over Christmas and that you are looking forward to 2024. Please find below an update of what is happening in our school and some dates for you to put into your diary.
Parent Teacher Meetings
We are looking forward to meeting all of the parent(s)/guardian(s) at our parent teacher meetings. Parent Teacher meetings will be held on the week of Monday, January 29th to Friday February 2nd. You will receive an invitation to meet with your daughter’s teacher on Monday January 22nd (Monday coming). If you don’t receive your invitation, please contact the school office. To be fair to other parents, and to staff, please let the teachers know in advance if for some reason you cannot attend. While we try to accommodate everyone, we would like, as far as possible to keep the meetings to the times on your invitation.
Please note that the girls will go home a little earlier on Thursday, February 1st to facilitate the Parent Teacher meetings.
The closing times will be as follows:
Junior/ Senior Infants 1.45pm (usual time)
1st/2nd class 2.20pm
3rd and 4th class 2.25pm
5th and 6th 2.30pm
School Closures
We have updated the school calendar recently which can be accessed here – School Calendar | Our Lady of Good Counsel GNS.
Upcoming closures:
Monday February 5th Bank holiday – St. Brigid’s Day
Thursday/Friday February 15th/16th Mid-Term Break
Wednesday February 28th: School closed due to In-Service training for teachers
Irish Dancing
The girls from Juniors to 2nd class are having a great time in Dawn’s Irish dancing class every Tuesday. They have their first two weeks done with eight more to go. If you are yet to pay for dancing please contact Tracey our secretary or the class teacher to arrange payment.



Little Red Kettle
We look forward to our annual visit from Little Red Kettle on Friday February 2nd. Little Red Kettle is a drama company who come into many schools every year and perform a show for and with the children! We will send out a note closer to the time to keep you up to date.
Hot School Meals
We are pleased to inform you all that our school has been allocated funding to provide a hot meal at lunch time for each girl in our school. We are in the process of preparing to provide the service and hope to have everything in place for the new school year in September 2024.
Traffic
As you can see on a daily basis, the traffic in Ferrybank continues to pose a challenge to all road users. Please continue to exercise patience during both school drop off and collection. I must also thank the many parents and children who are making the effort to walk to school daily. It is a huge help in keeping traffic congestion down outside our school. Whether you drive, walk, cycle or scoot to school, please continue to be as safe as possible during this busy time.
That’s all for now. We look forward to meeting you all in the coming weeks for the Parent Teacher meetings.
Yours sincerely,
J. Nagle
Principal